Just 7 teams turned out for the last event of the 2001 season at the Dartford site. Weather was good with a steady breeze blowing across the site.
Racing began at around midday and Ross/Turner set the pace once again with a 3:17.2 helped by Smith/Brown retiring after a missed catch trying for a fast stop. No other team managed to put in a time of sub 3:40 with Fitzgerald/Thomason second on 3:43.8 and Barker/Tompkins in third spot on 3:44.1 - a good time for them.
In the second round Fry/Whorton put in a 3:29.2 to move into second place with still no other teams breaking 3:40 although Miles/Yeldham came close with a 3:40.5. Smith/Brown looked like putting a decent time in but lost their U/C and Colin had to perform an "air catch" to avoid damaging the model. (with laud applause as a result) Ross/Turner put in another excellent time of 3:18.0.
In the third round Fitzgerald/Thomason put in a 3:32.4 with Smith/Brown a couple of seconds behind on 3:34.7. This was interesting as these two teams were vying for 4th place in the team qualification tables and, with at least one pair expected to turn down the opportunity to go to Sebnitz, the fight between these two was likely to be significant. Fry/Whorton had a good run which was spoilt by a dropped catch due to Smith/Browns model being about 6 inches above theirs just at that moment - a 3:34.8 being the result despite losing around 7 to 8 seconds retrieving the model which had run on about 15 feet. Barker Tompkins then took advantage of a two up race to put in a good 3:34.1 flying against Sharp/North who also managed to break 4 minutes for their first time with a 3:51.3. (personal bests for both pairs)
In the final round the fight was again between Fitzgerald/Thomason and Smith/Brown and, in a closely fought contest, it was the former team that came out on top with Mike and Mark finishing just 0.2 secs ahead of Steve and Colin - with times of 3:29.8 and 3:30.0 respectively. So Ross/Turner claimed first place well ahead of the field with Fry/Whorton in second spot and Fitzgerald/Thomason in third. Notice that just 0.8 seconds separated the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place pairs.
Thanks again for Dave Rudd's organisation on the day - perhaps the judging was a bit on the lenient side at times but despite there being only 7 teams present on the day we ended up with an excellent competition and it was good to see some of our "learning" teams putting decent times in.
|
Dartford Centralised Competition - October 14th 2001 |
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|
F2C - Team Race Results |
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|
Heat 1 |
Heat 2 |
Heat 3 |
Heat 4 |
Final |
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|
1 |
Ross/Turner |
3 |
17.2 |
3 |
18.0 |
3 |
21.2 |
3 |
25.2 |
||
|
2 |
Fry/Whorton |
4 |
12.2 |
3 |
29.2 |
3 |
34.8 |
ret |
94.0 |
||
|
3 |
Fitzgerald/Thomason |
3 |
43.8 |
ret |
61.0 |
3 |
32.4 |
3 |
29.8 |
||
|
4 |
Smith/Brown |
ret |
32.0 |
ret |
33.0 |
3 |
34.7 |
3 |
30.0 |
||
|
5 |
Barker/Tompkins |
3 |
44.1 |
3 |
59.3 |
3 |
34.1 |
3 |
48.5 |
||
|
6 |
Miles/Yeldham |
3 |
50.8 |
3 |
40.5 |
3 |
37.3 |
3 |
50.3 |
||
|
7 |
Sharp/North |
4 |
37.2 |
ret |
37.0 |
3 |
51.3 |
3 |
49.5 |
||
League points were awarded as follows :-
|
Ent |
Plc |
Fin |
Imp |
Tot |
|
|
Ross/Turner |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
Fry/Whorton |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
Fitzgerald/Thomason |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Smith/Brown |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Barker/Tompkins |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
Miles/Yeldham |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Sharp/North |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |